Patents by Inventor Verna M. Leonard

Verna M. Leonard has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 4404886
    Abstract: A musical teaching and playing aid has a sheath with a front panel defining spaced octaves of a keyboard instrument keyboard with slits just above the keys for the insertion of insert cards each of which is identified as to the octave above which it will be inserted, with each of these insert cards having a first tier of scale or chord tones which align with and name the keys on the keyboard, and a second tier of notes on a musical staff, which notes fall within the general range of the keys on the keyboard and the octave named on the card and which are visible by raising the card from a first position to a second position, whereby the independence of each octave is stressed by its isolation from adjacent octaves, disrupting the usual continuity of the keys, and the notes which fit within that octave and their names are identified on the removeable card to facilitate identification of note position on the staff with octave position in the range of notes on the keyboard.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 1981
    Date of Patent: September 20, 1983
    Inventor: Verna M. Leonard
  • Patent number: 4320690
    Abstract: The present invention integrates the entire body of musical knowledge relating to key signatures, basic chord structure, the logical progression of chords within a key signature according to the cycle of fourths, identification of the root tone both of scales and of chords, the replication of chord and scale structure over the keys of a piano or the like for each consecutive octave, and the display of the most suitable inversion to use in any particular instance for a particular chord in the selected key signature.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 1980
    Date of Patent: March 23, 1982
    Inventor: Verna M. Leonard
  • Patent number: 4295407
    Abstract: A teaching aid simplifies the understanding and practicing of the inversions of the major triads of the diatonic scale by utilizing a series of insert cards which slide into a simulated keyboard and read up vertically duplicate sets of the scale tones of the triad beginning with the underlying keyboard tone. In contrast with the usual method of inversion indication, wherein sequential indicia point out inversions on the keyboard itself, or on a horizontal scale, by reading up vertically rather than horizontally the student is able to easily see the inversion arrangement without confusing it with the keys that he is playing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 1980
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1981
    Inventor: Verna M. Leonard
  • Patent number: 4254686
    Abstract: The invention is in the field of musical learning and playing devices, and particularly relates to keyboard instruments. A plurality of cards are provided each of which defines a forward pocket and each of which spans an octave on the keyboard. These cards are positioned adjacent to one another across the breadth of the keyboard, and a second group of insert cards are inserted into the pockets defined by the first cards. These second cards may be one of several types, but in any event they display indicia which register with keys on the keyboard, and each of these cards also includes a laterally extended tab which engages the adjacent card by overlapping same so that the entire line of cards is stationary as a unit rather than being completely separate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 1979
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1981
    Inventor: Verna M. Leonard
  • Patent number: 4041828
    Abstract: The invention is a teaching and practicing aid for music students which graphically displays the relationship of the dominant, tonic, and subdominant scales in a particular key signature and as they relate to the diatonic scale in that key signature, the device structurally comprising a backing sheet optionally having the scale tones of a diatonic scale named in a row along the bottom, and three preferably reversible panels disposed in staggered horizontal slits cut in the backing sheet, these panels having portions visible above the slit with indicia thereon indicating by fingering number or scale tone name musical notes representing chords or scales, these notes being spaced proportionally to the key spacing of a piano keyboard. There is an optional insert card having two selectively displayable portions which represent the left and right hand, respectively, with the fingers thereof numbered in accordance with conventional elementary teaching techniques.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 1976
    Date of Patent: August 16, 1977
    Inventor: Verna M. Leonard
  • Patent number: 4002097
    Abstract: A chord inversion coordination aid comprises a plurality of dials of increasing diameter and each representing a particular chord type and having a peripheral array of the scale tone names of the chord in its root and inverted positions arranged in sectors, whereby upon aligning various sectors of the discs a given chord progression can be arranged according to the most easily played chord inversions. The dial may be centrally pivoted behind a cover sheet having a window therein to expose the dial sectors, and a pad of staff paper may be mounted on the cover sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 1975
    Date of Patent: January 11, 1977
    Inventor: Verna M. Leonard
  • Patent number: 3977293
    Abstract: The invention is a teaching aid for familiarizing the beginning music student with left-hand chording and particularly the inversions of common chords which fit within the normal range of left hand fingering and comprises a front panel having a display of the chromatic scale including eleven numbered bass scale tones of a diatonic scale terminating in middle C, with the notes corresponding to the 11 scale tones preferably indicated thereabove on a musical staff. Three indicator strips are used alternatively to indicate from these scale tones those which are used in the tonic, dominant, and sub-dominant chords, respectively, of a particular key signature, the inversions of these chords being named on a rotatable dial, and worksheet-type writing paper being optionally provided behind said panel whereon the student can inscribe the scale tone names of any particular chord.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 1975
    Date of Patent: August 31, 1976
    Inventor: Verna M. Leonard
  • Patent number: 3937118
    Abstract: The invention is a musical aid used to simplify the comprehension of chord inversion structure and enable the composer to more readily visualize the keyboard location and fingering of chords and their inversions used in a composition, the device having a frontal panel display of the scale tones of a particular key signature and a sliding member behind the panel which is provided with numbered, pivotal indicators to select a triad orderd in the root or an inverted position from the Scale tones on the panel, the invention including a rotatable disc on the sliding member having selectively exposeable chords displayed on the periphery thereof naming the triads and their inversions occuring in the key signature of the panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 1975
    Date of Patent: February 10, 1976
    Inventor: Verna M. Leonard